SHOPPERS braved yesterday’s wild winter weather to flock to Scotland’s high streets as part of the country’s £5.6billion Christmas shopping spree.

Scots spent an estimated £101million yesterday as stores extended their opening hours and slashed prices in a bid to cash in on the pre-Christmas rush.

It will complete a record £5.6billion Christmas spending spree in Scotland in the six weeks since mid-November, beating the previous record of £5.5billion last year.

Shops are not anticipating any let-up in the crowds of shoppers today, while even Christmas Day is expected to see £29million spent online.

Yesterday was Scotland’s longest ever shopping day, with stores such as Marks and Spencer opening at 6am and some shopping centres staying open until midnight.

House of Fraser has already cut toy prices by up to 75 per cent, with clothing company Gap offering 60 per cent off.

Today, John Lewis starts its 50 per cent off online sale at 5pm in a bid to entice those leaving it until the last minute to complete their Christmas shopping.

Currys and PC World’s sale starts at 7pm today – with more than 300,000 customers across the UK expected to make purchases by midnight tonight. Argos’ 75 per cent off sale starts at midnight, along with Debenhams and House of Fraser.

Amazon, whose sale starts at 8am tomorrow, forecast its busiest ever Christmas, with sales peaking as early as 8.30am.

Gary Turnbull, general manager at Braehead shopping centre near Glasgow said: “An army of shoppers has descended on us over the past three days with people queuing up before the centre opened and some people still shopping as we were about to close at midnight.

“People seem to have left it late to do the bulk of their shopping this year and yesterday we were exceptionally busy as soon as the doors opened at 9am. We don’t expect any let-up on Christmas Eve either, as people catch up on buying those last-minute gifts.

“And of course, we’re also expecting the annual sortie of male shoppers dashing through the mall on Christmas Eve having left it late to buy presents.”

An army of shoppers has descended on us over the past three days with people queuing up before the centre opened and some people still shopping as we were about to close at midnight

Gary Turnbull

At Silverburn shopping centre in Glasgow, shops have hired 100 extra staff, while dozens of car park attendants were drafted in to avert potential traffic chaos in its 4,500-space car park.

The centre’s general manager, David Pierotti, said that he expects a last-minute rush, mostly made up of men.

He added: “After three decades in retailing I’ve seen it all. On Christmas Eve we see a lot of panic buying and, I hate to say it, nine out of 10 times it’s men.”

Laptops, tablets and e-readers are expected to be among this year’s biggest Christmas sellers. Retailers say that the ability to order goods at the touch of a button has changed the way people browse for sales bargains.

Amazon UK managing director Christopher North said: “Christmas Day is our biggest day of the year for MP3 downloads and Kindle book purchases as people enjoy devices received on Christmas morning.” Marks and Spencer said it would keep 179 UK motorway and airport stores open 24 hours tomorrow.

British Retail Consortium spokeswoman Mandy Ryan added: “Christmas Day itself is now a key shopping day, thanks to e-commerce, social media and rocketing smartphone and tablet ownership.

“Many retailers are responding with early offers making a head start on the sales.”

Retailers are still recovering from a meagre 1.6 per cent increase in sales in December 2011 – the death knell for around 250 stores across Scotland. Even during the recession two years ago, retailers reported a £275,000-a-minute Christmas spending spree.